The solution to glob…

Millions of tons of dandruff are circling the Earth, blocking out sunlight, causing rain and spreading disease, startling new research shows.

Flaky as it may seem, the research – partly funded by the German government – may provide the solution to one of the world’s most enduring pollution mysteries: the origin of much of the vast clouds of fine dust in the atmosphere. It suggests that more than half of the dust is a rich soup of organic detritus, including particles of decaying leaves, animal hair, dead skin and dandruff.

The research is published in the April issue of Science magazine by Dr Ruprecht Jaenicke of Mainz University – who has been leading the study for the past 15 years – and says “it has got to be taken very seriously”.

Sorry, but I can’t read that without a very serious chuckle. Thing is, the article also mentions the contribution of birds and trees to this cruft floating around in the air, and you have to ask, “If it’s a natural process, what can we really do about it?”